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Jun 23 Alaska Peonies and Peterkort Roses

Kelly Perry - 00:00 - You are listening to the Team Flower podcast where we talk about flowers and the people who have dedicated their lives to sharing with the world. In today's episode, we have a special treat for you, not one but two American growers and the tips that we've gotten here are great for both growers and designers alike, so stay tuned so that you can gather all the great information that you need for your business and life. Flowers. First, we have Martha and Moe, from the Alaskan Peony cooperative. They grow and shift peonies all over the country during months when it's really hard to find them. Learn a little bit about their growing conditions, what makes the last special and how you can apply some of these themes in your own business. The flowers and then we have Norman computer court roses. A long history of family growers were shipping their flowers all over the country as well. Learn about new products that they have with the lilies that are so tricky to find and they're beautiful greenhouse grown garden neurosis. This podcast is brought to you by flower. Team Flower is a group of people who are loving the world through flowers. If you're doing that, you're a part of the club. Welcome to the party. If you'd like to know when new podcast episodes are released and receive fun video tutorials and articles, sign up for our pim pop club. It's free. Visit teamflower.org and click on the blue resources.

Kelly Perry - 01:25 - Why Have Martha and Maureen from the Alaskan Piney cooperative here with us today? Why don't you to introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about your co op and what you do within your co op, what your roles are.

Maureen Horne-Brine - 01:41 - Hi. Um, my name is Maureen Horne-Brine-Brine and I take care of the marketing and social media for the Alaska Piney cooperative.

Martha Lojewski - 01:51 - And My name is Martha Lojewski and I am the salesperson for the cooperative and I do also treasury work.

Kelly Perry - 01:59 - Okay, great. So whenever we call to make an order, we are talking to Martha and when we see all those pretty facebook posts and instagram things, those are coming from worrying. Okay. So there are an increasing number of American growers to are seeking streamlined ways to get their products to market and I've seen some starting like wholesale markets. I'm down here in the lower 48 and in their communities or co op similar to what you've done with the Alaskan peonies and I just had a few questions that I thought might be helpful to somebody who's considering starting a cooperative in their area. Um, so I was wondering what prompted the formation of your co op and what steps in resources you utilize to get that started?

Maureen Horne-Brine - 02:46 - Yeah. Um, I think in the beginning we were just a bunch of growers that were interested and we were meeting on a regular basis and um, eventually we thinking about what sort of, where we were headed as growers and then once we were ready to send a teeny stems to market how that was gonna happen. So I think marketing was really the driver for us to get our cooperatives started.

Kelly Perry - 03:14 - Okay, great. And then, I guess it sounds like you were meeting regularly before the COOPA started taking place. You just had those similar interests in her head in a similar direction, everyone growing p and and kind of helping each other get things going and started. Is that correct?

Maureen Horne-Brine - 03:31 - Yeah, that sounds correct. We would, um, you know, every year there's an annual growers conference up here, so we would meet each other and I'm up at the growers conference. We would see each other at farm tours or sometimes just volunteering at each other's farms and visiting. And so the network networking kind of happened that way.

Kelly Perry - 03:48 - Okay. So you kind of knew each other before the idea came to. Okay, let's go ahead and form this co op, just sort of somewhat casual settings

Martha Lojewski - 03:59 - and I think in the very early days also, um, we thought that it would be nice if we all work together, do group orders on supply purchases. So that kind of set the groundwork for us deciding that instead of just a purchasing co op, we wanted to also be a marketing co-op and fulfill some of those needs as well for the growers in the members.

Kelly Perry - 04:19 - Okay. So I know you guys had relationships, you know, existing before the co op was taking place, but whenever the idea came up to have one, um, what kind of steps did you guys take as a group? Like what did those conversations look like and did you utilize any kind of a like business resources in Alaska to help you get, um, you know, your business formation and everything put together?

Maureen Horne-Brine - 04:46 - Yeah, in the beginning we were just kind of meeting maybe once a month. I'm pretty informal just to kind of see what the interest was. Um, we did that about for the first year and then we started to get a little more serious and formed the co op itself and we started meeting on a more regular basis once a week. Um, and as far as resources we use, we've really found the University of Alaska Cooperative Development Program to be helpful. They've been a really great resource for us.

Kelly Perry - 05:16 - Fantastic. Okay. And what type of person do you feel like is a really a best fit member for, for a cooperative? What shared values and skills are required for the group to function well?

Martha Lojewski - 05:30 - Definitely being open, I'm an open communication style, there's a lot of different ways that you can set up a cooperative and everybody has their own opinion on how they want to make a business run, but the cooperative is run by every single member, so it has to be a model that fits every member. So your idea needs to be communicated on an equal playing field as another person's idea. And for the most part we generally agree on what direction we want our cooperative to go because we're very like minded and um, for our prospective members, we make that very transparent so that they know what they're getting themselves into before they just sign up and join this business. They know nothing about. So I'm definitely open communication. Transparency is really important so that every single person knows exactly what's going on with their business. Um, we definitely have responsibilities that are partitioned out to individual people, but everybody knows what everybody's working on and we work together as a group. Um, so somebody who likes to run the show I guess probably wouldn't work well in this business model because they have to, um, they have to work with lots of other different styles of people and make business decisions that are good for the business, not just their own personal place.

Kelly Perry - 06:47 - Right. So openness would be a really a key, a descriptor for somebody who's interested in being a part of a co op. And then I think too, like shared values. I think that you guys have some, do you have like three core values for your co op that you all have decided is, is really important to you guys moving forward? Like education and things like.

Martha Lojewski - 07:10 - Yeah, definitely. Um, very early on we tried to decide what our mission statement, our vision would be and we do have those three core values and it was um, or pillars that we always stand up a education, resource sharing and sales.

Kelly Perry - 07:25 - Okay. Perfect. Um, okay. What do you think maybe the number one benefit of being a part of a Co op is for you guys and possibly for some other people who might be interested in joining one?

Martha Lojewski - 07:39 - Um, it's, everybody is part of a team and I would never be able to have a business that's successful without all of my teammates. Um, I am not an expert on social media so I rely on Maureen to do that and I am not an expert in legal writing and business documents, so we rely on our president Gary for that. So everybody brings something to the table and it's incredibly valuable that when we take on new members to decide what their new role will be within the cooperative so that not only that they can feel like they have a purpose in the cooperative, but also so we're getting the most out of all of our members. Um, special skillset,

Kelly Perry - 08:19 - right? Absolutely. What's the number one tip that you would tell somebody who's hoping to start a co op in their area?

Martha Lojewski - 08:27 - I would say treat it seriously. Um, in the very early days, days, we didn't really have a whole lot of defined goals, um, we didn't know where we were going, it was still just a lot of research gathering, but we have found out over and over and over again if we treat it seriously as a serious business and not a hobby farm or a hobby business will get out much more than we put into it. So we, we have, uh, most of us have full time jobs on the side and this is just a part job or a weekend type thing right now, but we treat it very seriously and we are putting our heart and soul into this business and I think it shows and, and we try to just keep that moving forward.

Kelly Perry - 09:07 - Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's chat a little bit about growing peonies. I was reading a book last week that's called carrots, love tomatoes. And on page 1:37, Lewis talks about how Russian scientists observed the difference between water and snow's effect on plants. And I learned that snow contains nitrogen and phosphorus like rainwater does, but unlike water it lacks a heavy isotope called deteriorate. And this, um, this detour, IOM tends to slow down plant growth a bit, that heavy isotope. So, um, whenever the snow lacks this and doesn't have it for short season, places like Alaska that have a lot of snow, it gives those plants that little bit of a boost to get going real quick. Um, and I thought that was really neat and I was wondering if you could tell us about maybe some other factors in coal, you know, in growing in a short season cooler area that help your flowers get a strong start and make them special.

Martha Lojewski - 10:11 - That's a really interesting fact. I had no idea, you know, I wonder if that's why snow has that certain smell to it that you can never put my finger on. But um, possibly. Yeah. It's no secret. We have a lot of snow up here. Um, some parts of Alaska has more and the Alaskan peonies are very different than other peonies that some of the florists may be used to getting from New Zealand or Chile or the Netherlands and trying to describe those differences have been one of our challenges I feel like because if you, if you, if you're buying a festival, Maxima, P and e, it should always be the same, but when it comes out of our special place it's different and perhaps it's because we have a fast and furious growing season with um, over 20 hours of daylight during the peak growing season of day, a day.

Martha Lojewski - 10:55 - And so they just, they don't get arrest, they just grow and grow and grow and you go to bed one night, you wake up the next morning and they literally look four inches taller. And so it's pretty incredible to watch them to sprout so, so quick. And then we have cool nights. I'm a pretty cold winter, a short growing season and I've had several inputs on why they think are the colors up here in the, the pigments, they tend to get more saturated. Some people have said it's because of the snow. Some of that is because the spring, I'm being so quick, some set, it's the cool nights. I'm not quite sure exactly why the colors get so saturated, but they definitely are more saturated. I had the opportunity to sit with Dan Hollingsworth at lunch a couple of summers ago in fairbanks and the table had a centerpiece of Mary Jo Llegar peonies and he asks the grower what they were and she looked at him like, well, they're just Mary Jo Lagar because they're the only ones we've ever seen.

Martha Lojewski - 11:51 - And and he just could, not that he said he'd never seen a color like that and he's never seen a marriage. Ola Gar, so saturated in the. I don't even know how to describe the color. It was like a deep violet Magenta with like a hint of black in it. And I was so stunned. I also ordered some for my field and I only ordered 250 of the routes, but it's, it's just such an amazing color. And on the flip side of that, some of the whites tend to get pink undertones. So if you're used to getting a variety like immaculate, that's a very light blush. I'm from a different supplier and the different part of the world, some of the ones that we shipped down from parts of Alaska are pink. I'm definitely pink like a Sarah Bernhardt pink. So we make sure to work with each individual buyer on the differences, the subtle nuances that they could be seeing when they opened the boxes so that when they get their order, they're not surprised about the size or the color.

Martha Lojewski - 12:48 - If you're expecting to have a six inch bloom to put into a bride spokane and it opens up to be a nine inch bloom, it might throw the ball off a little bit off balance. So, um, we have to make sure we get some of those details, um, uh, spread out to the buyers before they buy. And I'm so, so our co op also only ships the largest buds that USD grades, which is a aaa size bud, which has a diameter of one point seven, five inches or a AA, which has a diameter of one and a half inches. And there's several cultivars up here that have a diameter. This is just the bud, this is, it's not even telling you how big the diameter of the flowers when it opens. And there are cultivars up here that produced two inch diameter buds. I mean, it is incredible to hold these buds in your hand. It's like a tea cup. It's like a small teacup in your hand. So, um, I feel like we kind of need a new grade for some of the buds that come out of Alaska. So yeah, the three differences I suppose from our stems would be the size, the color, and then definitely the availability. Um, we're able to only sell stems in July and August where there's typically been a, a hole in the worldwide availability.

Kelly Perry - 13:58 - Yeah, absolutely. And I think, uh, you mentioned about how the peonies are, you know, can get much larger than once from other suppliers. And I know the first time that I talked to you about ordering peonies, we had talked about that. And I think that it's really important for people who are particularly doing wedding flowers to know that those are available. And that they exist because a lot of times we're tasked with doing these giant arbors or kind of installation projects and to get a focal flower that can really assume, you know, the weight and the position that it needs to in some of those really large scale things. It's hard to find, um, something during that time until, you know, maybe the Dahlias start coming on. So I think that's a great thing to just for people to be aware of and to know about. So I think that's great. Well, somebody had written in from instagram and asked about how you handle ants on peonies. You want to speak that for a second?

Maureen Horne-Brine - 14:52 - Sure. Um, yeah. Luckily up in Alaska we don't see a lot of ants on Rpns, if you can believe it. I think I'm in the lower 48. It's pretty common to see ants on the p and e outside of the piney buds collecting the sweet sap. But I'm in Alaska, we don't see that a lot, but what we do see is a lot of bees on the outside of the bud also collecting, collecting that sugary sap. And um, you kind of have to be careful when you're harvesting. A lot of times they'd be likes to go on the underside of the bud. I think the sap kind of accumulates down there so there'll be under there and when you're harvesting you have to make sure that you shake off any bs before you cut that stem.

Kelly Perry - 15:30 - Yeah, that's, I'm not a big fan of is I'd much rather be down there. Well, is it possible just to. Is it going to hurt the button at all if we switch it in a little bit of water for just if we're not packing and shipping and we're just going to, you know, maybe use it in the house or for an event or something that's coming up. Will it hurt anything if we just switch those around in water or how would you recommend you getting those off without damaging the flowers?

Maureen Horne-Brine - 15:57 - Yeah. You know, by the time the bud makes it to the client, I think most of that little sugary sap should be off of the buds. But if it wasn't in the bud was closed up, but it would be fine to give it a little switch. I think a lot of times, um, you know, the rain will help to remove that and we do, you know, the Alaska whether is notorious for sun one minute and ran the other. So hopefully by the time we ship most of that sap is off. But you could always just give it a little wipe or a little swish as long as the bug was closed.

Kelly Perry - 16:25 - Okay, great.

Martha Lojewski - 16:26 - I have heard also that bowl of cream tend to get water spots if I'm a little slight brown depressions, if the water is allowed to dry on the bud. So if you going to be swishing bowl of creams, I would suggest pet drying them.

Kelly Perry - 16:39 - Okay. Okay. Great Advice. Thank you. Okay. So if someone is ordering the flowers and they're coming to us in that bud form or maybe they're picking them out of their garden or something, whenever we have them earlier in the year. Um, how many days to open is that? So what would be optimal for having the penis delivered from, you know, bud, until they're full blown, you know, at their peak of openness.

Martha Lojewski - 17:10 - That's another thing that we have to work on each individual client with because if it's a huge event on a Saturday, the florist might take two days to make those big harbors are all the arrangements. So the stems would have to be shipped from us on a Monday. We ship everything fedex overnight. So our big days of shipping are Monday, Tuesday because most of the events that we provide flowers for our either Friday or Saturday and Fedex will only deliver Tuesday through Tuesday through Friday. Um, so we could ship Monday through Thursdays. So we have to make sure we have everything planned out. And so if your event is on a Sunday or a Monday, we would have to ship the stems on a Wednesday or a Thursday so that they could get there over the weekend, have to approximately two days to open and then, um, give you some time to put them in the arrangements and use them for designing the.

Martha Lojewski - 18:01 - As soon as you get them open the box, give them some air, cut off the bottom inch, throw them in some water, um, keep them out of the direct sun. I know usually in a lot of events they'll be out in the direct sun and that's fine. You just don't want them indirect sun while you're waiting for them to choose for the event. She away from car exhausts, so not in the garage. Sometimes diy brides put them in the garage because it's cooler. So just away from car exhaust, they don't prematurely drop their pedals, but they're pretty hardy. So, um, yeah, two days for opening and a day for designing is typically what I suggest.

Kelly Perry - 18:33 - Yeah. I think that's really great for timing on things. What would you recommend though, if the penis weren't quite open enough, would you give them a few hours in sun or would you maybe put a lamp on them or are there any tricks that you have for getting pennies that are closed to open?

Martha Lojewski - 18:54 - Yes, slightly warm water. I've never heard any results about putting a lamp on them, so I'd have to look into that. Um, yeah, a little bit warmer water, potentially a warmer room, I don't know about full sun, but maybe I'm partial sun would help them open up quicker and if it's a, it also depends on the variety. Some of the varieties that have not as many pedals, like a semi double or even a bomb will open a lot faster than a full double. So the Sarah Bernhardt's we'll definitely take a full two days. Whereas a coral charm might only take 24 hours.

Kelly Perry - 19:28 - Right, right. Yeah. Sometimes I have, if I've needed to slow something down a bit for when I first started or sometimes if I'm working, I'm at a different location than I don't have a cooler available. Sometimes I will keep ice in the water to keep them closed, which seems to work pretty well. And then um, the warm water, like you suggested, I'll, I will do that. Or you know, just keep a lamp, you know, on overnight things like this. Maybe just give them a little bit of, a little bit of love, very carefully just squishing there, but just a little bit, not to the bruise effect, but just to kind of like open it just a little bit into ease it out. So yeah, those are a few things that I've tried regarding peonies so. Well thank you guys so much for coming on the podcast today. It was really great to have you. Is there anything else you would like to share your shipping July and August is your season. Anything else that you'd like to let everyone know about?

Maureen Horne-Brine - 20:29 - Um, you can follow us on all of our social media with the links in the podcast on below and um, there's also linked to our newsletter on our website, so if you want to get updates of what varieties we're shipping a updated priceless, that sort of thing, you can sign up on our website for that newsletter.

Kelly Perry - 20:46 - Okay. Perfect. Well thank you so much Martha and Marine for joining us today and thank you all for listening. We'll see you next time.

Kelly Perry - 21:12 - Let's get started with a couple of these questions. You are a part of a multigenerational business, which is really exciting. And I'm one of the, one of the listeners asked who started the business and how has it changed from generation to generation in terms of your product offerings and marketing and clients and distribution? Um, tell us a little bit about that.

Norman Peterkor - 21:39 - Well, originally my grandfather, I guess started started the business though actually. He worked for my great grandfather for awhile and that's where he met my grandmother. And so, um, uh, since 1923, he, uh, he was growing roses on his own place or not roses. He didn't start out with Rosie, started out with, uh, with other things. Um, but yeah, he's, he's a, he expanded over the years and my, my, uh, father and his brothers and sisters joined the business and um, and eventually my dad moved out to Hillsboro and build some greenhouses. And that's her America today.

Kelly Perry - 22:18 - Okay. And it continues on from there and a, you today? Mostly grow roses, but you also grow some other crops in the greenhouses as well, don't you? What are a few of those?

Norman Peterkor - 22:29 - We grow lily's Oriental Asiatic, Lily's year round. We also have crops, have a resonance, can listen emoney and Freesia and um, and we're testing out some other things. So we have solutia in the summertime.

Kelly Perry - 22:46 - That's awesome. Now you now in terms of who you're getting your products to, that maybe it was a little bit different than in 19, 30 years. Shipping them all over the country through air whenever you started. What was the, um, were you doing that whenever you started working for the company? Or is that something that has sort of morphed since you've been a part of working with Peter Court?

Norman Peterkor - 23:09 - That's something I, I kinda started myself. Um, yeah, originally it was, it was all local and then uh, they were doing some air freight and then uh, uh, I discovered a fedex and, and uh, overnight. So, so that's really blossomed quite a bit.

Kelly Perry - 23:31 - Yeah, that's how I have gotten to have some of your fantastic roses and some of my weddings in different projects that we've been doing here at Team Flower. So I'm really thankful that you saw that opportunity and went for it. Have you always worked in the business or where did you maybe go away and do something else and come back? Tell us a little bit about your background.

Norman Peterkor - 23:54 - Well, I, I, um, I have worked in the business. That's the only place I've ever worked really. Um, I probably, I think it probably would've been a good idea to work somewhere else. So, uh, first, but that's just the way it worked out and yeah. And that's what I've been doing all my life.

Kelly Perry - 24:11 - Yeah, that's fantastic. Now you grow your roses in greenhouses, like you said, whenever your dad moved up to the Hillsborough area, he built these greenhouses. Is he the one who started growing hydroponically? That's something that makes your greenhouses in your product's really interesting and unique. And I thought we could maybe just chat about how you're growing the roses a little bit.

Norman Peterkor - 24:35 - Well, um, of course, originally everything was grown in the soil and um, uh, I started going to rose grower meetings. Um, I couldn't tell you exactly when that was, but they were, there was a new system they were using at that time and it was, it was the hydroponic system with the stems and, and, uh, I decided to start trying that. It was not terribly long ago and um, and that's, that's I think worked out pretty well for us. And so that's what we've been doing. We still do have some roses in the soil, but everything that knew that we're putting it as going in a hydroponics.

Kelly Perry - 25:16 - Okay. And how those hydroponics work, there's a drip irrigation system that provides like a steady diet of the water and the minerals and the fertilizer. And then tell us a little bit about the lights that you have that helped them in your area.

Norman Peterkor - 25:33 - Well, we, um, we grow in coconut fiber is the substrate, that's what the rose is actually have their roots in and we do a liquid fertilizer. We've, we've watered the roses about once an hour and every watering has a liquid fertilizer in the irrigation and um, and that, uh, that's really beneficial for the floor for the roses and it gives them the ideal conditions for growth and then, uh, we to use lights in the wintertime because it's just too dark and the, and they just don't grow very much in the winter is if you don't have lighting.

Kelly Perry - 26:12 - And I was also reading that you have white fabric covers on the greenhouse floors, which I thought was really interesting because we just did a photography class this past weekend with Team Flower and I learned about like bouncing light and taking pictures and all of those kinds of things. Um, so it's interesting that, you know, you're using that to reflect the natural light that you have as well to provide some more lighting in your greenhouse.

Norman Peterkor - 26:40 - Yeah, we, um, it's just a landscape cloth and they have it in white. And so somebody suggested that that would be a good way to get a little extra light in the winter time. And so we, we've been using that exclusively for ground cover.

Kelly Perry - 26:55 - Yeah. And tell us a little bit about the insects that you use in the greenhouses to keep your plants nice and healthy.

Norman Peterkor - 27:05 - Well, you know, nowadays it's a discouraged or it's not a good idea to use as many pesticides and as they used to in the old days. I remember when I first started it was we used a dad used to use all kinds of interesting chemicals, but uh, we don't use, we don't use anything like that anymore. And, and we're using beneficial insects. We use predatory Mites to control a several different problems like white fly and, and uh, and uh, twospotted spider mite at are really devastating to the roses if, if you don't control them. And we used to be spraying every couple of weeks for spider bites and we don't, we don't have to spray it all for spider mite anymore. It's all controlled by predatory mites that are kind of indigenous of the greenhouse now that we don't have to apply those anymore at all.

Kelly Perry - 27:56 - Oh Wow. So to get something like that started those coming in on Fedex and like, you know. Yes. Yeah. How are you getting those bose?

Norman Peterkor - 28:06 - They come in in Styrofoam boxes and they are uh, they're actually, I'm cool with, with ice packs and we get those in every week. Have to fight the white fly mostly is our biggest problem. And the thrips

Kelly Perry - 28:23 - okay. Now, do you think those are only helpful if they're, they could be contained in some kind of a greenhouse setting or do you think that that's something that I could use in my garden if I had like a lot of roses or would they stick around and hang out in that area? Or are they kind of fly away?

Norman Peterkor - 28:41 - Uh, you know, I know too, I know people do use those kinds of beneficial insects and animals and the outdoors and orchards and, and um, and other situations that don't have greenhouse enclosures. And, and I, I, it's, I think a little bit more difficult to make it work and outdoor you have to, to really know what you're doing. But, uh, in the greenhouse, I mean, it's not easy to make it work in the greenhouse either, but uh, there's, it does, it does keep them in so they don't, they don't disappear.

Kelly Perry - 29:12 - Right. Well that's really neat and definitely an innovative thing. It sounds like you've brought a lot of innovative new ways of looking at things to the business and I love, you know, your passion for using the insects and trying to keep the roses free of pesticides and things like that. There is such a noticeable difference. Um, whenever I get a box of Peter Koerte Rosa's it and I'm stripping even the stems. Like sometimes if I have other products that have been grown with a lot of pesticides can actually feel it on my hands. You know, it's like I really feel like I've got to go, I've got to go wash my hands, you know, just after a bundle or two and you can see it and I don't know, you just kind of can smell it and that type of thing. And that's not the case at all with your roses and the foliage on them. Everything is very beautiful. And usable,

Norman Peterkor - 30:03 - right? My sister was cleaning some Rosa, so we got into look at it and she said the very same thing just the other day is she felt like she had to wash your hands all the time.

Kelly Perry - 30:12 - Yeah. It really is remarkable. The difference. Well, I also think it's interesting that even though the roses are grown under greenhouse covers several of the varieties that you're growing still do have fantastic fragrance like a, you know, an open air type of garden rose, like Helga and Lavante. Those are two of my. I don't know if I'm. Am I saying that right? Lavante. That's how I always pronounced it in my mind

Norman Peterkor - 30:38 - it's been pronounced in my experience as low bond l I a d laval and

Kelly Perry - 30:45 - Lavonne. Oh, that's way better than Lavonne, Lavonne and I like that. Oh, that's great. Well that's one of my favorite roses that you have. It has a lower pedal count. It's a beautiful purple color and I'm just very, very delicate. Opens really well and just has that Nice citrusy, citrusy fragrance which I really love. So

Norman Peterkor - 31:10 - we've covered a few roses, arose varieties that are a little bit older, like the, they're, they've been around for ages that's a really old for it, but Lavonne and, and they don't necessarily hold up as long as some of the more current Fridays, but they have, they have so many beautiful attributes like the fragrance.

Kelly Perry - 31:29 - Right. What are a few other roses that you're growing in addition to those that have some fragrance maybe that I haven't tried yet that someone might like to order?

Norman Peterkor - 31:39 - Well, we have a salmon arose called um, Sonya. I chose another, another role directory that has a beautiful fragrance and a couple of the garden roses regrow like the eps. Jay has a lot of fragrance. I can't think of any others off hand. Is there a little few and far between in the fragrant ones?

Kelly Perry - 32:00 - Okay. Uh, normally why don't you tell us a little bit about some of the designers that work with your flowers mean we use them at the Team Flower workshop each year, but what are some other designers that we might have seen these flowers out and about on instagram and different things. And that they might be using some of your roses.

Norman Peterkor - 32:17 - Well, we've, we've had a interest in the, in front of a few different of the designers. Uh, Erin at Florets has used our flowers are Elisha's. Are Sarah Windward and, and Holly Chapel or just to name a few.

Kelly Perry - 32:31 - Yeah, that's awesome. I think I might have originally heard about you from Aaron like quite a long time ago, so I know she's been using you guys for quite a long time and loves your flowers.

Norman Peterkor - 32:44 - She was actually one of the first that we were shipping to directly.

Kelly Perry - 32:46 - Yeah. That's awesome. Well, tell us a little bit more about what's next for you. Any new products that are coming up that we should know about?

Norman Peterkor - 32:56 - Well, I'm working on and I'm on starting a program and, and we have some, um, some, uh, Marta on Lily's that we've been doing. Uh, my sister Sandra has, has really been promoting those and, and, uh, people really liked them a lot.

Kelly Perry - 33:12 - Yeah. And uh, Sandra is your, I want to chat about the flowers, but Sandra is your sister, correct?

Norman Peterkor - 33:18 - Yeah, she's my oldest sister. And, and were the only two that are so involved in the business of she's, she's helping out and she does the local market for me.

Kelly Perry - 33:28 - Okay, perfect. So she handles more of like the local side of things and then you're doing orders and shipping and things like that. So if we call and chat were probably chatting to you and if we're working with the local, probably Sandra.

Norman Peterkor - 33:41 - That's, that's pretty much the way it works out. Yeah. But I have a lot of other responsibilities besides that.

Kelly Perry - 33:46 - Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure you do all kinds of things. Okay. Well let's chat about those. Um, lisianthus. What season, what timeframe would those be available once you go ahead and launch that?

Norman Peterkor - 33:59 - Well, I'm hoping to do a year a program once we get started, I think you can grow them here year round in the greenhouse.

Kelly Perry - 34:05 - Okay. That's wonderful. Do you have colors picked out that you're looking at yet?

Norman Peterkor - 34:10 - Oh, so you're gonna start with the basics. And I think I had always liked to go try out some of the more exotic things because that seems to be what a lot of people like to see from us. But uh, uh, haven't really, haven't really got any plants in the ground yet. So, uh, I hope to get started with that sometime soon.

Kelly Perry - 34:30 - Yeah. Well I know there's some, I've had some out of Japan earlier this spring that was like a roughly muddy brown color. I know a lot of flower growers are like, Oh, that's like a dead flowers, brown flour. But a lot of the designers really love that muddied tone because it can go with a lot of different color palettes. And so that's one that you might want to consider if you haven't already. That just nice little neutral piece.

Norman Peterkor - 34:58 - I'll definitely be looking for that.

Kelly Perry - 34:59 - Yeah. And then tell us about the gun lily's. These are some of my favorites. I, I know we had chatted about this a little bit earlier, but they call them Turks, cap lilies here in boone. And I wait every July, I get so excited whenever they come out and I call it my local lady and she brings them over for me to play with there. So, so special. I love them. Tell us a little bit about the colors that you have and what you'll be offering in terms of those because that truly is a unique product.

Norman Peterkor - 35:32 - When we have some, um, uh, some colors in the yellows and oranges and a few pink and, and probably a very few white, uh, unfortunately the whites are a little bit difficult to, uh, to grow. And we've got them planted in succession. I mean we, we've got a lot of a bulb sand and, and we've got them in the greenhouse. So they're going to be coming for quite a period of time outside the regular normal blooming time.

Kelly Perry - 36:00 - Yeah. That's fantastic. And for those of you who aren't familiar with these lilies, they're a smaller lily and on a longer stem and they almost remind you a little bit of a chandelier, how they come down in the various layers and whenever they're all fully opened, it's like those lilies are the little light bulbs in the chandelier. They're very cute and you could edit them and use them a lot of different ways in arrangements. I really like that. Well, uh, norman, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners today? How can they connect with you?

Norman Peterkor - 36:35 - Well, you can reach us by email or you can call us on the phone to email. Our email here is a orders at Peter Koerte, roses.com. And our phone number is five zero, three six, two eight, one zero, zero five.

Kelly Perry - 36:49 - Okay, perfect. Well thank you so much for joining us today, Norman. It's been great to have you here on the Team Flower podcast.

Norman Peterkor - 36:56 - Thanks Kelly. Spent a lot of fun

Kelly Perry - 36:59 - and to all of you who've been listening, thanks so much for tuning in. We're looking forward to seeing what you do with your peer partner.

Kelly Perry - 37:06 - This podcast is brought to you by team. Flower to flower is an online learning community and a big group of florists that are focused on 11 the world through flowers. Whether you're a professional farmer, florists getting started or just love flowers. Welcome to the party. If you'd like to know when new podcast episodes are released and received from video tutorials and articles, sign it for a pen pal club. It's free. Is it Team Flower.org, and Click on resources.